Mailing machines for printing postage indicia on envelopes and other forms of mail pieces have enjoyed considerable commercial success. There are many different types of mailing machines, ranging from relatively small units that handle only one mail piece at a time, to large, multi-functional units that can process hundreds of mail pieces per hour in a continuous stream operation. Prior modern mailing machines that include postage meters store funds locally in an electronic postal security device (PSD). The postage fund credits are acquired through a postage purchase transaction known as a reset that is now typically electronically processed over a network connected to a data center. Such mailing machines including postage meters have utilized PSDs including multiple integrated circuit devices packaged in a physically secure housing. For example, the PSD typically includes cryptographic data including key data stored in memory that are required for operation of the PSD device. If a security breach was to be detected in the PSD physically secure housing, one tamper response would be to erase the cryptographic keys so that the device could not be used in a fraudulent or otherwise unauthorized fashion. The PSDs also include postal funds record data in registers including an ascending register and a descending register. The funds related data registers may also include one or more piece count bucket registers and a PSD and/or postage meter identification number. In a multiple integrated circuit module, a PSD processor integrated circuit might fail, but the separate memory device might remain functioning and continue to store the funds record data. In such a scenario, the funds record memory device could be removed from the PSD circuit board and read. In commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,421,977, issued on Dec. 20, 1983 to Kittredge, entitled Security System for Electronic Device,” and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, a secure housing is described for multiple circuit devices. Moreover, in a prior described PSD, an operating PSD was configured to visually output the funds register data in response to determining that the communications link to the postage metering device had failed. In that scenario, the PSD is operating normally, but the host postage meter has failed. Such a PSD is described in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,963,928 issued on Oct. 5, 1999 to Lee, entitled Secure Metering Vault Having LED Output for Recovery of Postal funds,” and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
However, if the electronic components of a PSD were to be substantially implemented in a single integrated circuit device, portions of the device might independently fail. Accordingly, there is a need for a system that will allow secure recovery of postal security device data including funds register data from a partially failed integrated circuit postal security device.